nicholas avenue early this morning. brian kuebler gins us -- joins us with the latest. >> reporter: police and fire were at the scene for a large part of the day, trying to make sense of the three bodies left to die in a burned out home. a neighbor who didn't want to appear on camera, said he heard the gunshots at 4:30 this morning. police responded and checked the perimeter at 4301 nicholas. they found nothing. this was only after neighbors smelled smoke and the fire department responded an hour later that police know just what happened. it took the boater part of the morning to sift through this tragic tale. police say it was a father, daughter and herd boyfriend that were killed. the daughter died later at the hospital, all three shot and left to die in what a fire chief

describes as a relatively small fire nonetheless, started by somebody else. fire officials on the scene working an arson case alongside a homicide detective. what appeared to be family showed up late this morning has neighbors watched from their porches. no one wanted to comment, obviouslily, too distraught over the news. police have yet to release the names of the victims. both the boyfriend and the daughter have scrl records -- criminal records. police are working through several motives, including this being a drug-related hit. >> thanks a lot. 17-year-old allen shank from pasadena faces an attempted murder charge tonight. he is accused of stabbing his father. police say in happened last night at their home on edward drive. shank and his father got into an

argument that ended with him grabbing a knife and stabbing his father several times. his father is expected to survive. a sympathetic judge gives a baltimore county man another pass for returning to prison. he's fighting pancreatic cancer. a judge cut him a bit of a break saying a dying man needs some compassion. we have the latest. >> reporter: the judge gave henry cole another month to seek treatment at home with his family by his side. cole is dealing with stage four pancreatic cancer. he was ordered back to prison earlier this month but ended up checking into a hospital after being denied compassionate relief. the department wants them in their custody. during the emergency hearing

judge bennett said it doesn't make sense to use taxpayer money to send cole somewhere else. >> it is absolutely absurd that mr. cole has to be returned to kentucky for this examination. the last time i checked, maryland is part of the united states of america, and i think we can do it here. >> now cole will have his next hearing coming up? september. the judge said that is the end of the road for this case and there must be some resolution. even though the judge asked a local doctor to look at cole there's no guarantee they will accept it. inmates hav to be in their custody to be evaluated for medical release. congressman david wu said he will resign amid allegations that he had a sexual encounter with an 18-year-old woman. he said it was consental but he decided to quit out of the

well-being for his children. some democratic leaders have called for a house ethics investigation after the initial report. yesterday's severe weather brought plenty of rain and lightning to anne arundel county. that lightning damaged at least two homes outside of annapolis. don harrison checked it out. >> reporter: this is a reminder of the storms in annapolis county. firefighters handled two calls. every year lightning strikes the earth 1,000 time as second. yesterday this chose here to touch down. the owners were not home when the lightning striked. it almost threw him out of bed when the lightning hit. never been a big fan of

lightning. >> not really, especially not. this also blew out the neighbor's computer. the surge protector didn't work. >> reporter: ed and his daughter live a block away. they were home when the lightning struck. >> i never heard nothing like this before. roaring thunder but this one was so sharp and penetrating, you could have your hair stand on your arms. >> reporter: others saw the fire company respofnltd the fire drew crew as far away as graysonville. >> then the fire went off. thought a tree would fall on the house. >> reporter: for now, it's up to the insurance company to determine how much damage was done. >> so far this year lightning as load to the death of one american in anne arundel county. a man was standing on a pier

last month when a bolt of lightning struck him. you have to be careful with the lightning. we're already emphasizing that -- that and flooding, which don't get much press but both of those are the two biggest killers. no flooding rain or leeting in. all sweeps returning clear. that's a good thing. show you our satellite picture. closest cloud cover in pennsylvania. humidity dropping. we got a fresh air mass in here. it's still a hot dpairks mid to upper 90s in spots. with the humidity so low most people were saying, man, i didn't sweat that bad. at least it didn't kneel like. it 80s this evening. we'll talk about the rest of the outlook coming up. >> you know you can track weather anytime on your smartphone. just sign up for the wmar

weather app. you can track it live and get the latest forecast wherever you live by the hour or the seven-day forecast. just head to our website, and you will find the free weather app link. you know, it seems like he ri time your phone rings or you get an email, the news from the other end is that someone you know, someone you loves a cancer. this may be the day that we remember as a turnaround. jamie, sounds like good news. >> reporter: can't something be done? tonight there's a plan to end the pain this disease can cause. you're looking at the new maryland comprehensive cancer plan. it's a panel of experts but more importantly than that, it's people who actually suffered and survived. one survivor tells us why this

plan is so important. >> it's making sure that every single voice is heard and that's what's important about this. every single voice is heard and no one is left behind and no one slips through the cracks. >> reporter: the cancer control plan has a lot of objectives and strategies, making sure we get to our doctor, get screened and maybe living a healthier way of life. if you want to get involved in this plan, go to maryland.gov cancer/cancer plan. >> a step in the right direction. >> you know, breast cancer is a big focus on abc2 news. it's something we want you to help learn about and get involved in the fight. the susan g. komen race for the cure takes every year -- place every year in hunt valley. this year it's october 23rd. go to abc2news.com and click on

the health tab and the think pink section. some prescription drug price are going to drop in a to you months thanks to expiring patents. that means cheaper generic versions. drugs include the cholesterol drug lipitor and the blood thin are plavix. in some cases it could translate into more than $100 in savings. that's a big savings. mcdonald's is making a big change to its happy meals. why it's eliminating half the fries and what there will replace them with. things have gone real bad. how the health department is dealing with a bat infestation. plus, no wedding dress, flowers or groom. how a couple tied the knot even though they're thousands miles apart.

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in tonight's consumer alert, four decades now generations of children have made happy meal as staple of their diet whether parents like it or not. now in an effort to make the meals happier and healthy, mcdonald's is switching from the high calorie, high sodium items for healthier ones. >> reporter: they've been the three ingredients for years, but signs of obesity have changed. >> a happy meal. >> reporter: now parents won't risk it by substituting apples with french fries. >> we think both parents and children will absolutely love the changes.

>> reporter: the changes come after unhappy critics said of 10 happy meal combinations, none met nutritional standards and some had 700 calories. the new ones have fewer calories, less sodium and less saturated fat but that's not enough to impress a nutritionist. >> a little bit makes a little bit of difference and every little bit does count. a big difference would be actually replacing a whole bag of french fries with an apple. >> reporter: what's not going away, the toy. >> the toy is an important part of the experience. come on. kids have to have fun, you know. >> reporter: so the red box gets a pir but the toy is still inside. mcdonald's said when it advertises it it will advertise

the healthy one. summer is more than half over but there's still more to look forward to. the celebration continues through august 14th. restaurants taking part offer three-course six meals at lunch and din are but don't include alcohol or the tip. you can get a list of the restaurants on our website at abc2news.com. you see that fried shrimp, kelly, monsters. i love restaurant week. the humidity is all the way down at 27% and there is a breeze blowing. compared to what we had it's all

relative. the hottest time of the year statistically tough to complaint. blue skies over the state, over baltimore as well. this is our view from druid hill park. how about a look at laurel high school, annex, bright blue skies. look at the trees shaking in the horizon. you can tell there was a little bit of a breeze to stir the air a little bit. maryland's most powerful radar continues to show all clear and temperatures continue to run above average but still much better than what we've had because of that major, major drop in humidity. you can see the humidity percentages, a high of 41% in cambridge, 22 management in frederick -- 22% in frederick and hagerstown. downtown will be in the mid-90s to low 90s. you'll notice that low humidity. this should ab few degrees -- be a few degrees cooler tomorrow.

so enjoy tonight and tomorrow. we should stay nice and clear. there's a couple of widely scattered showers to our north in northern pennsylvania. most of the united states sitting quiet. there's not a lot of weather. our boundary that claim through, bringing in the dry air. the coolest air still positioned north and west of us. we'll get a -- catch the edge of this, catch the edge. should drop us a couple degrees tomorrow. the suburbs at least should be in the upper 80s for highs. that's not bad. this nice big section of dry air has dropped in out of the canadian prairie. that's making things feel better despite heat. the futurecaster showing nothing tonight. really, we should stay nice and clear into thursday. thursday, the winds will shift. that will lay out humidity to come back into the states. enjoy this narrow window of dry

weather. pleasant. 89 tomorrow, 89 at bwi, so even milder and the air staying pleasantly dry. after tomorrow night things will steam up. take a look at the seven-day forecast. the humidity coming back,'s hetionly -- especially friday into saturday. right now i think we'll see minimal rain but, kelly, i'm telling you tonight, tomorrow, tomorrow night, that's like our 36 hours. >> this was nice. >> good hair day for you? >> better. no wedding dress, no tux see dope -- tuxedo and no bridesmaid.

they couldn't wait to get married so they tide the knot over the phone. the specialist is serving a year tour in afghanistan. blake's mother served as his power of attorney and the couple was married over the phone. >> the two of you have come before me today to be united in marriage. randall, do you vow your love and devotion to sara? >> i do. >> in sickness and in health? >> i do. >> i now pronounce you married. >> yeah! >> specialist blake returns home in december. at that time he will get lap chance to see his bride face to face. great. well, this was once a deadly childhood disease, but now the numbers are down considerably. why we could soon see the end to

chicken pox. >> we'll tell you how to stay fit.

we've got break braifnlgt it seems small but debris is causing a tie-up. >> 695, we have debris on the road. i want to take you to the traffic camera. i want to start you down low. i want to take you on 695, the outer loop of the beltway. this is the traffic that's on

the outer loop. you can see all the backup it. all starts with debris in the road. i want to show you this shot. it's real interactive. just go to abc2news.com. more of the traffic stopped. the one in the middle shows this west of york road trying to get on 83. this is 83 north of 695. you shouldn't have problems there. again, it's going to be a mess trying to get you out of here tonight it. starts all the way back to providence road and goes all the way back to providence road, do laney -- do lain ni valley road. kelly, back to you. >> in tonight's health alert, new research shows family history is a better indicator of heart attacks than strokes. a survey of 1600 people researchers found a person's risk of a heart attack was 600%

higher if both parents suffered one. when this came to strokes a different scenario. parental stokes didn't affect it. a once deadly disease is dying off in the united states. chicken pox, but modern medicine has made a dramatic difference. the centers for disease control said the number has dropped 95% since 1995. researchers believe that second dose will eradicate the disease in the near future. have you been thinking about taking a trip to our nation's capital this summer? how about a running tour? there's plenty to do from visiting museums to the monument. some walk. the latest trend is to run.

every second saturday and monday of the month, members host free rung tours called chitchat runs. >> our visitors in the mall are full of runners. i thought this would be a great opportunity to combine my ranger skills to reach out to the visitors. >> now you can learn about d.c.'s history, architecture and its famous citizens while jogging through the city. every one knows a good night's sleep is beneficial. it turns out how long you sleep may not be as important as how many times you get woken up. a person was getting up multiple times. the study found that mice who had their sleep interrupted showed signs of memory loss, but when the mice slept through the night, they were more curious and interested in learning after

waking up. much more ahead here at 5:00, trust me. this plan is standing there buck naked. i said who are you? how did you get here? >> a naked intruder is no match for a grand mother and her baseball. >> and don't get scammed while you're job hunting. how to spot the most common scams.

a controversial case tonight. a 4-year-old boy killed by a hit and run driver. why list mother was convicted in the case. you might expect leaky faucets and peeling paint in